Why might your reader care enough to read on?
That's largely the crux of the Pop-Ups...but it's always going to be subjective. There will always be those who wouldn't read your book even if it won prizes, even if it were to become a bestseller. It's not their cup of tea.
That said,@AgentPete challenged me with this very same question some years back. 'Beautiful writing,' he said, and then came the kicker, 'And why do I care?'
If he cared for the main character or his situation, maybe he would care. So the challenge was clear. This was a story with a plot, but essentially it was a character driven story. So I had to do a better job of offering a reader what Peter terms a 'cookie- an emotional reward or incentive. Emotional. A reason to feel something.
Why do any of us care about anything we read? Readers respond to whatever they respond to, and the writer can't predetermine that. But, speaking entirely as a reader, it's clear that a writer can learn how to write from the heart or the gut without it being about themselves.
It comes OF them. It comes THROUGH them. But it is not ABOUT them.
First there is the flame then the control of the flame.
Tweeted recently by literary agent Jonny Geller.
'Don’t write for a market; write for a reader. The reader is not a fan or a relative, but someone who trusts that you will take them to a new place, in an unexpected way. Keep that person in mind when you re-read your manuscript & you will view the work objectively. '
Criss Jami
Be objective in your subjectivity.
What could be easier? *cough*
Once more unto the breach, my friends!
That's largely the crux of the Pop-Ups...but it's always going to be subjective. There will always be those who wouldn't read your book even if it won prizes, even if it were to become a bestseller. It's not their cup of tea.
That said,@AgentPete challenged me with this very same question some years back. 'Beautiful writing,' he said, and then came the kicker, 'And why do I care?'
If he cared for the main character or his situation, maybe he would care. So the challenge was clear. This was a story with a plot, but essentially it was a character driven story. So I had to do a better job of offering a reader what Peter terms a 'cookie- an emotional reward or incentive. Emotional. A reason to feel something.
Why do any of us care about anything we read? Readers respond to whatever they respond to, and the writer can't predetermine that. But, speaking entirely as a reader, it's clear that a writer can learn how to write from the heart or the gut without it being about themselves.
It comes OF them. It comes THROUGH them. But it is not ABOUT them.
First there is the flame then the control of the flame.
Tweeted recently by literary agent Jonny Geller.
'Don’t write for a market; write for a reader. The reader is not a fan or a relative, but someone who trusts that you will take them to a new place, in an unexpected way. Keep that person in mind when you re-read your manuscript & you will view the work objectively. '
Criss Jami
Be objective in your subjectivity.
What could be easier? *cough*
Once more unto the breach, my friends!
Last edited:
